Our Lady of Czestochowa

More than 60 men died after a mosque collapsed in Sagaing Township aftera 7.7-magmitude earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of the Action Against Hunger team in Sagaing

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 2, 2025 / 18:36 pm (CNA).

Rescue teams have been working against the clock in Myanmar searching for survivors under the rubble after last Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake. But the battle hasn’t just been against time or the high temperatures of over 100 degrees.

“The army isn’t allowing relief teams to operate freely,” a priest from the Diocese of Loikaw in eastern Myanmar told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

“The Church is also trying to help, but we encounter countless obstacles. We can’t freely access the affected areas because there are military checkpoints everywhere. Supplies are confiscated, volunteers are prevented from entering, and in some areas the army doesn’t even allow victims to receive the assistance they need,” said the priest, who requested anonymity.

He said he fears reprisals from the military regime that seized power in a coup in February 2021 and overthrew the democratically-elected government of the National League for Democracy party.

So far, the official death toll from the March 28 earthquake stands at 2,886, while the number of injured is approaching 4,639, according to the latest figures shared by the military junta. This number is expected to continue to rise.

The devastation is particularly widespread in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, just 11 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter, as well as in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, which is more than 150 miles away, and in the Sagaing region in the northwest of the country.

Catholic Church ‘one of the first to respond’

“Many people are still trapped under the rubble, but time passes and the chances of finding survivors are diminishing. Furthermore, those who managed to escape alive are in deplorable conditions: without food, without drinking water, and without shelter. There is a great need for medical assistance, but there is also no access to adequate hospitals,” the priest related.

“People are desperate. This morning I heard someone say: ‘If you can’t give us anything else, at least give us clean water.’ That shows the gravity of the situation,” he added.

From the very beginning, the Catholic Church has tried to mobilize to assist the victims. Through Caritas Myanmar, teams have been coordinated to distribute drinking water, food, and medicine.

“The Church has been one of the first to respond to the emergency, but we encounter barriers in every attempt to help. There are military checkpoints on the roads, we are required to obtain permission to transport supplies, and in many cases, the soldiers simply confiscate the aid or block its passage,” the priest explained.

The nation, one of the poorest in Asia, has been mired in a civil war for four years, triggered by the 2021 coup by the current military junta in power. The conflict has displaced 3.5 million people, according to the U.N., and has exacerbated poverty and food insecurity.

Despite the humanitarian crisis unleashed after the powerful earthquake, the spiral of violence has not abated.

“The conflict makes it almost impossible to move aid from one region to another. The military junta controls access to main roads, there are checkpoints everywhere, and anyone trying to bring supplies risks arrest or having everything confiscated,” the priest recounted.

The archbishop of Rangoon and president of the Myanmar Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, has called for a ceasefire in his country to facilitate rescue efforts, but his appeal has been unsuccessful.

“We have received reports of fighting in some areas, but communications are damaged, making it difficult to assess the full impact,” said Lisette Suárez, head of the Mental Health and Protection Department of Action Against Hunger in Myanmar, one of the organizations responsible for collecting foreign humanitarian aid and distributing it throughout the country.

“It’s essential to ensure safe and unrestricted access to all affected communities, regardless whose control they’re under,” she emphasized.

The distribution of humanitarian aid has also been hampered because many roads and main thoroughfares “have been completely destroyed” by the earthquake.

“Furthermore, some local airports are still working to restore operations, limiting the air transport of humanitarian aid,” Suárez added.

Without food, water, or electricity

Added to this infrastructure paralysis are administrative problems, as many government offices have also suffered damage and some of their staff are directly affected by the tragedy, Suárez noted.

“The country was already experiencing a humanitarian crisis before the disaster, with a conflict limiting mobility and safe access to many areas,” she pointed out.

The electricity and running water supply remains disrupted, hampering access to health services and increasing the risk of disease outbreaks spreading through water and food. Furthermore, hospitals are operating at half capacity.

“They are treating patients on the streets, with limited resources and without electricity. The few remaining care centers are overwhelmed,” said the worker for Action Against Hunger, an organization that has been operating in the country for 30 years.

Supply problems also affect food. “Markets have collapsed, and there is no access to basic foodstuffs. Thousands of families have lost their livelihoods.”

The earthquake has not only worsened the conditions of those internally displaced by the conflict. “It has affected everyone, without distinction. Displaced communities, those who lived in conflict zones, and those who did not,” explained Suárez, who also emphasized the incalculable psychological impact on a population already traumatized by the war.

“The earthquake has left a profound mark on the mental health of the population. Not only have the communities suffered human and material losses, but also the response teams are working in extremely difficult conditions,” she explained.

Despite the difficulties, international aid has begun to arrive. “Many organizations are using supplies that had been reserved for the monsoon season [June-October], but they probably won’t be enough,” Suárez pointed out.

In any case, despite the devastation, the small Catholic community in Myanmar continues to show great resilience. “Our faith remains strong. Despite the difficulties, we remain united, praying, and helping one another. We cannot lose hope that better days will come,” the priest from the Diocese of Loikaw said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

U.S. Supreme Court. / Credit: PT Hamilton/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).

The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments for a lawsuit that will determine whether South Carolina and other states can deny Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for non-abortive medical services.

All three justices appointed by Democrats appeared to empathize with Planned Parenthood in the case, but the six Republican-appointed justices were more nuanced with their questions for the lawyers representing both parties.

Federal Medicaid funds cannot be used to cover elective abortions, but federal law does not restrict abortion clinics, such as Planned Parenthood facilities, from receiving Medicaid funds for other services they offer.

However, in 2016, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed an executive order to block abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for any services, arguing that tax money should not support institutions that perform abortions. This spurred a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood and a patient named Julie Edwards who was receiving non-abortive services at a Planned Parenthood facility through Medicaid.

The bulk of the legal arguments focus on one line in federal law that regulates the way in which state governments must structure their Medicaid reimbursement policies.

Under the federal law, “any individual eligible for medical assistance … may obtain such assistance from any [doctor or health care provider] qualified to perform the service or services required.”

Interpretation of federal law

John Bursch, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom representing South Carolina, and Nicole Saharsky, a lawyer representing Planned Parenthood, disputed the meaning of the federal law and whether patients can file lawsuits about the matter.

Bursch told the justices that states have the authority to set their own eligibility requirements and argued that the federal law does not establish an absolute “right” to receive services from any medical provider and patients should not be able to seek recourse through the courts. 

“[There’s] a difference between a benefit and a right,” he said and alleged that to assert an absolute right, there would need to be “rights-creating language with … an unmistakable focus on the benefited class.”

Bursch argued that South Carolina has many other alternative health care providers that can provide the services covered by Medicaid and acknowledged that one of the primary reasons the state denied funding to Planned Parenthood was because “they’re the nation’s largest abortion provider.”

Saharsky disputed those claims, arguing that the federal law uses “individual-centric rights-creating language that imposes a mandatory obligation” on South Carolina and all other states.

She said the federal law ensures that a patient “may obtain [these services] from any qualified and willing provider,” which she said prevents health care providers from “being excluded from Medicaid arbitrarily.” She argued that this language has the same effect as it would if Congress had used the word “right” or the language that no person “shall be denied.”

Saharsky referred to South Carolina’s rules as imposing a “magic word test” by asserting that there is no established “right” based on the word choice used. 

Justices weigh the arguments

Justices appointed by Democrats landed heavily on the side of Planned Parenthood during the oral arguments.

“What this language does is the same as the rights language does,” Justice Elena Kagan said. 

While questioning Bursch, Kagan asserted: “It’s impossible to even say the thing without using the word ‘right,’” adding: “The right is the right to choose your doctor.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Congress was motivated to pass the law because “states were limiting the choices people had.” She added: “It seems hard to understand that states didn’t understand that they had to give individuals the right to choose a provider.”

“You’re not quite calling it a ‘magic word,’ but you’re coming pretty close,” she added.

Alternatively, Republican-appointed justices assumed a more nuanced approach when addressing the lawyers. 

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, for example, said he’s “not opposed to magic words” if it could provide clarity on “the words that are rights-creating.”

“One of my goals coming out of this will be to provide that clarity,” Kavanaugh said.

Polonia Castellanos, founder of the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers. / Credit: Women World Platform, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Puebla, Mexico, Apr 2, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA).

Attacks against Christians, especially Catholics, are on the rise in both Europe and Latin America, according to various reports from specialized organizations.

During 2023, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe documented 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes in 35 European countries. This figure includes 232 personal attacks ranging from harassment and threats to physical violence. Nearly half the attacks occurred in France.

The disturbing trend was also noted in the 2023 Report on Religious Freedom published by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need.

The executive summary of the latter research report warns of “a considerable increase in incidents perpetrated by individuals or groups advocating for certain ideological views that are intolerant of the religious beliefs of others.”

“The attacks have largely focused on members of religious communities (i.e., Catholics and evangelicals) and have generally been committed by members of pro-abortion and pro-feminist groups, as well as by groups that promote gender ideology,” the summary adds.

“In Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, and Mexico, incidents (in several cases, crimes) have been reported, including attacks on religious persons, acts of vandalism, desecration, or offenses against religious sentiments,” the document states.

Polonia Castellanos, president of Christian Lawyers, a foundation founded in Spain that has opened a chapter in Mexico, said: “When Catholics and Christians in general are attacked and humiliated, nothing happens, but if it were done to another group, the consequences would be immediate.”

“I think the reason is partly our fault,” she lamented, because Catholics “have allowed ourselves to be humiliated and insulted without doing anything, and that’s why we’ve reached these extremes that are beginning to be dangerous.”

She is not alone in her views. Along with her, other Catholic leaders from Latin America and Europe interviewed by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, warn of growing complacency in the face of attacks against Christians in countries that were once staunch defenders of the faith.

A recent, global example of an offense against Christians was the parody of the Last Supper presented during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Other cases in Latin America include the canceled art exhibition “The Coming of the Lord” in Mexico, which featured sexualized religious symbols, and the play “María Maricón” in Peru, which, according to the official synopsis, “explores the conflict between religion and gender through the deconstruction of various Catholic virgins and saints.” 

‘Unreported or normalized’ attacks

For Uriel Esqueda, campaign manager for the Mexican platform Actívate (Get Active), “the attacks against Christians and people who practice a religion are growing larger and more noticeable every day. I think it’s a form of persecution, and the attacks are unfortunately unreported or normalized to a certain extent. So it’s a very serious situation.”

“Unfortunately, both religious leaders and individuals are not accustomed to the culture of speaking out regarding the violations of their human right to religious freedom, and I think that’s part of the problem,” he noted, warning that currently “there is greater intolerance against Catholic groups compared with other types of religious groups.”

For example, although the Mexico Constitution “recognizes and protects the human right to religious freedom,” as well as international treaties, “unfortunately, no one knows how to report [violations] or how to enforce this human right,” he lamented.

Esqueda said Actívate will launch a campaign so that “Christianophobia can be reported and that authorities know what to do about these types of issues, and that people who carry out or practice Christianophobia can receive some type of sanction.”

Attempts to eliminate the presence of Catholicism in Mexico

Marcial Padilla, director of ConParticipación (Awareness and Participation), a Mexican organization dedicated to promoting human dignity, lamented that “historically, there has been a desire on the part of political and ideological groups to reeducate society to eliminate the presence of Catholicism, whether in education, customs, art, or any trace of laws inspired by the principles of the Christian faith.”

He explained that secularism is “expressed as tolerance of mockery of the faith but intolerance toward expressions of faith. Put another way: In the name of freedom of expression, the Catholic faith can be ridiculed, but in the name of the secular nature of the state, it cannot be freely expressed or celebrated in community.” 

In Mexico, national symbols are protected, but religious symbols are not

“In Mexico, you can desecrate religious images or churches, but not the flag or national symbols, because that is clearly penalized,” noted Father Hugo Valdemar, a Mexican priest who headed the communications office of the Archdiocese of Mexico City for 15 years when it was led by Cardinal Norberto Rivera.

“The question is: Why are national symbols out of bounds but religious symbols can be mocked and ridiculed without any criminal consequences?” Padilla questioned.

In the country, he lamented, “a Jacobin [anti-religious] mentality persists against the Catholic Church.”

There are remnants of the past that culturally have not been overcome, he said, referring to the tensions between the state and the Catholic Church in Mexico that date back to the mid-19th century and reached their peak in the 1920s, during the fierce government persecution of Catholics that sparked the Cristero War.

For Valdemar, it’s important for Catholics to “firmly defend their faith and their values, but without falling into provocations that make us appear fanatic or intolerant. And also with great prudence, because often these expressions of hatred for the faith would go unnoticed if they weren’t provoked in order to gain publicity.”

“Sometimes, some supposed works of art are so mediocre that no one would notice them if it weren’t for the scandal that publicizes them,” he noted.

Social media important to ensure attacks are not silenced

For Father Juan Manuel Góngora of the Diocese of Almería in Spain, who has more than 82,600 followers on X, “we are living in adverse times, and an example of this is the growing number of Eucharistic desecrations in various parishes and anti-Christian violence.”

“The social engineering we have been suffering for decades has gradually increased [tolerance of offenses]. And since the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party came to power in 2018 and [prime minister] Pedro Sánchez took office, a series of laws that are completely harmful to the Catholic faith and anthropology are being implemented, such as the application of laws on historical memory, abortion, and euthanasia.”

Furthermore, Góngora criticized “the attempt by the government and its parliamentary partners to eliminate the crime against religious sentiments, protected by Article 16 of the Spanish Constitution and included in the penal code (Articles 522-526).”

The Spanish priest emphasized that these laws “are generally serving to ensure that these attacks and power strategies are not silenced and hidden. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the media, fueled by institutional advertising and along with a constellation of associations affiliated with the progressive left, are necessary collaborators in implanting narratives and stories along secularist and anti-Christian lines.”

Europe is ‘forgetting its identity’

Castellanos said she believes the current situation of religious freedom in Spain and the rest of Europe is “very worrying and dangerous; attacks against Christians are increasing not only in number but also in intensity.”

“Europe, which was built on Christian roots, is forgetting its identity and persecuting Christians and imposing anti-Christian ideologies,” she said.

Referring to the proposal to eliminate crimes against religious sentiments, the president of Christian Lawyers warned that this would “exponentially multiply crimes against Christians.”

“What’s even more alarming is that many crimes are committed by public officials. So what we see is that not only is the crime not prosecuted (because we already know that in Spain the law is not equal for everyone), but we are paying with our taxes for people or individuals who dedicate themselves to insulting us, when they should be the first to respect all citizens,” she said.

Castellanos specified that legislation should “guarantee respect. The freedom of expression of some does not involve insults or humiliation; they are two very different things.”

“Despite everything, we must be aware of our victory (although action will be necessary). Spain is the land of Mary, and I am sure that all the struggle in defense of life (from conception to its natural end), the family, and religious freedom will bear fruit very soon,” she stated.

The results depend on Catholics

Alberto González Cáceres, president of the St. Thomas More Center for Legal Studies in Peru, lamented that the defense of religious freedom seems “not relevant to the vast majority of the population, because religion has become an almost secondary cultural manifestation, except when people are living in dire straits, as in the case of Nicaragua, or when there are calamities. I say this with great sadness.”

“Now, for people who truly practice their faith, it’s overwhelming to realize that there is strong media censorship against all forms of religious practice, just as there is social stigmatization against anything orthodox,” he noted.

In this context, Catholics, he said, can respond in “two concrete ways”: “The first is by praying a lot, and the second is by educating themselves in the catechism and Catholic doctrine.”

Regarding the authorities’ actions regarding religious offenses, González said he believes that “absolutely nothing can be expected. The results will depend on actions taken by Catholics themselves.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Vice President JD Vance speaks at a film-screening event April 1, 2025, at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Erin Granzow/Courtesy of the Heritage Foundation

National Catholic Register, Apr 2, 2025 / 17:03 pm (CNA).

Vice President JD Vance hailed the accomplishments of the Trump administration in ushering in a return to democratic and faith-based values Tuesday evening at the screening of a documentary film series that warns a regime of “soft totalitarianism” threatens the United States and the West.

In his remarks, Vance returned to the theme he raised in his February speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he criticized European Union leaders for undermining free speech and democracy.

“The ruling elite of the societies have become actively hostile to some of the very ideas that those countries were founded on in the first place,” Vance said before an audience of about 100 people at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. In addition to Vance’s speech, the by-invitation-only event featured a screening and discussion of the first episode of the film series “Live Not by Lies” released April 1 by Angel Studios.

The vice president praised the 2020 book the film is based upon, “Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents,” written by Rod Dreher, who he said is a “dear friend.”

The book’s title comes from a 1974 essay Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in which he urged his countrymen to stand up for truth and resist the communist regime’s pervasive ideology. It features the accounts of survivors of Soviet persecution and argues that life in the West today is a sort of “soft totalitarianism” that bears a resemblance to life behind the Iron Curtain.

Vance called the work the author’s “most prophetic” book, pointing to its diagnosis that the problem afflicting the West is a spiritual one, created by the abandonment of the West’s Christian heritage. Dreher is the author of the bestselling 2017 book “The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.”

“It’s the most prophetic about where Western civilization has gone; and, in particular, some of the very founding ideas of the West, the Christian faith on which all Western nations were in some important respect really based on in their original charter,” Vance said.

“Those very ideas have not just fallen out of favor, and they’re not just less popular than they were 200 years ago or 300 years ago; of course, in the case of our friends in Europe, a thousand years ago. What we’ve seen is that those ideas have become disfavored,” Vance said.

“You see, in Europe, people arrested for praying, and you have the police asking them, ‘Well, what are you praying about?’ — as if it was any of the police’s business. Yes, you see people who are thrown in prison or have their jobs destroyed because they don’t believe the right things or they don’t say the right things, according to the liberal intelligentsia that rules some of these societies,” Vance said.

The vice president credited President Donald Trump for “making progress” toward a return to these faith-based values, as evidenced by the administration’s protection of free speech.

“I think if you just look in the past two months in this administration, we’ve gone from a country where we would harass and threaten and investigate and even arrest pro-life protesters to one where we’re encouraging pro-life activists to do what they can to persuade their fellow Americans,” he said.

“A couple of months ago, we had social-media censorship run amok. We were threatening people’s right of free expression for not saying the things that Silicon Valley technology companies told them to say. Now, I believe that we have more free speech on the internet today than we’ve probably had in 10 or 15 years. So we’re making progress,” Vance continued.  

Following the vice president’s remarks, Dreher concurred with Vance’s assessment of the Trump administration’s efforts to reverse the trends he documented in his book but warned against complacency.

“We are living in a time of hope,” he said. “But we can’t lose our vigilance because the conditions that allow for totalitarianism to rise are still with us.”

“These evil lies do not conquer our institutions overnight, and they won’t be gotten rid of overnight,” he said.

Dreher referred to the work of philosopher Hannah Arendt whose 1951 work “The Origins of Totalitarianism” pointed to certain conditions that made Germans and Russians incapable of resisting the state’s “lies,” even to the point of turning against their fellow citizens and reporting their transgressions to authorities.  

Arendt, he said, saw that “mass atomization and loneliness, a complete lack of confidence in institutions, a desire for transgression for the sake of transgression” paved the way for totalitarianism then, adding that those conditions remain with us today.

“I’m very grateful that we have a president and a vice president who are pushing back hard against this stuff,” he said.

He said he hopes the book and the film “Live Not by Lies” are shared with young people, many of whom know little about the consequences of communism and even profess themselves enamored of it.

“Let’s remember that if we forget the past, we are condemned to repeat it. This film and the book, they’re acts of memory. And do not forget what you see here. And be sure to tell, especially young people, that it’s important to know what communism was,” he said, noting that there are dozens of films on Nazism on Netflix but little focus on communism from the streaming service.

Dreher emphasized: “This is why I believe we have a whole generation, a post-Cold War generation, of young people who are all into socialism and communism. That’s all on us. We can now turn it around. But you’ve got to share these stories with young people and let them know what happened and why it matters to them.”

Watch

“Live Not by Lies” is produced and distributed by Angel Studios, which previously produced the popular series “The Chosen” about the life of Jesus as well as the film “Sound of Freedom.” The first episode of the four-part documentary film is now available to stream on the Angel Studios app for members of the Angel Guild, a paid subscription service that allows the studio’s faith-based content to be crowdfunded. To join the Angel Guild, visit Angel Studios’ website. Subsequent episodes will be available to watch each week. Watch the trailer here.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Asylum seekers wait for their CBP One appointments with U.S. authorities before crossing through El Chaparral port in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Jan. 20, 2025. / Credit: GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 16:31 pm (CNA).

Catholic and evangelical leaders are urging Christians to consider the “sobering” effects of mass deportation efforts by the government, arguing that ongoing aggressive immigration enforcement will be felt beyond those who are being deported. 

Church leaders with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief, and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in their report “One Part of the Body” highlight the potential impacts of mass deportations on Christian families in the U.S.

“In the United States,” the leaders write in the report, “immigrants from various countries form integral parts of the body of Christ. Most, of course, are lawfully present, whether as naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, resettled refugees, or others with permanent legal status.”

“But,” the report argues, “a significant share of the immigrants who are a part of our body are vulnerable to deportation, whether because they have no legal status or their legal protections could be withdrawn.”

“That has long been true, but it is of increased urgency given President Trump’s repeated pledge to carry out ‘the largest deportation in U.S. history,’” they write.

The report includes what the leaders call “sobering” statistics that reveal how broadly this situation may affect Christians. 

Currently, 80% of all individuals at risk of deportation are Christians, according to the report. The majority of this group is Catholic at 61%, greatly surpassing the 13% of evangelicals and 7% of other Christian denominations.

About 1 in 12 Christians are vulnerable to deportation or live with someone who is, specifically immigrants in the U.S. who entered “unlawfully” or “on a temporary nonimmigrant visa,” the report says. 

The report specifies that of these Christians, 1 in 5 are Catholic.

The leaders state that people in the U.S. who have been granted temporary protected status could have their status “withdrawn by the executive branch, without the need for congressional approval.” More than half of those individuals are Catholics.

Those who hold temporary status “are physically present in the U.S. as of a particular date when the conditions in their country of origin make it unsafe for them to return for reasons such as war, conflict, a natural disaster, or a public health epidemic,” according to the report.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are also primarily Catholic, making up 73% of the group. The DACA program was originally created to allow deferred deportation for young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children, but the report argues that this program is at risk along with its Christian recipients.

Individuals who have been granted DACA status will be at risk “if the Trump administration (or any subsequent presidential administration) would follow the appropriate processes to terminate DACA or if the U.S. Supreme Court would agree with the lower courts that the program was created illegally and, as a result, invalidate the policy.”

Lastly, the statistics reveal that 58% of immigrants who came to the U.S. as asylum seekers are Catholic. These individuals “could be at risk of deportation after the final disposition of their immigration court proceedings, if they are not granted asylum or other relief by an immigration judge.”

The report states that “nearly 7 million Christians who are U.S. citizens live in households with someone at risk of deportation,” arguing that this issue does not affect only immigrants but also their families and other Christians.

“Our prayer is that the president and his administration as well as the Congress will take these stark realities into consideration as they pursue immigration policies,” the religious leaders say.

“Just as importantly,” they continue, “we pray that the whole of the American church, including the 11 out of 12 Christian households not at risk of losing a family member to deportation, will recognize that this suffering that is likely to affect many parts of the body of Christ actually impacts them as well.”

Participants speak at the conference “Jews and Catholics on Ethics: A Light to the Nations” at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome on April 1, 2025. / Credit: Kristina Millare/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 2, 2025 / 14:38 pm (CNA).

The Vatican in collaboration with the Camille and Sandy Kress Project launched the first in a series of conferences titled “Jews and Catholics on Ethics: A Light to the Nations” this week, highlighting the significance of faith traditions in the world today.

The April 1–2 conference in Rome brought together Catholic and Jewish scholars from around the world to the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as the “Angelicum,” to deepen the theological foundations of Jewish-Catholic dialogue as proposed by Pope Paul VI in his 1965 declaration Nostra Aetate.

In a message to conference participants, Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, said joint reflection on ethics is more urgent now than in the past as both religions — “which have their common origins in revelation” — face being undermined in societies that “marginalize our moral values.”

“As Pope Francis stated: ‘Jews and Christians share a rich spiritual heritage which allows us to do much together. At a time when the West is exposed to a depersonalizing secularism, it falls to believers to seek out each other and cooperate in making divine love more visible for humanity,’” Koch said in his April 1 message.  

Both conference guest speakers — Shira Billet, assistant professor of Jewish thought and ethics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Judith Wolfe, professor of philosophical theology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland — said the shared belief that each person is made in the “image of God” provides Catholics and Jews a foundation for common ethics, norms, and values.     

“Beloved is the human being who was created in the image of God,” Billet said, commenting on the writings of Rabbi Akiva, a first-century Jewish scholar and martyr. “God loves human beings insofar as human beings are created in the image of God.” 

“When God said to Noah and his sons, ‘In the image of God, the human being was created,’ the verse is a prohibition against murder,” Billet added, citing Genesis 9:6. 

“God also spoke the moral norm that follows from it, which is, you cannot destroy the image of God in another human being,” she continued.

Describing the love of a trinitarian God that “already defines the divine life in itself; the love between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” that draws human beings to participate in “that divine life of love,” Wolfe said Christians are called to express “the plenitude and generosity of God” toward others.

“The entire ethic propounded in the Sermon on the Mount speaks to this directly … [of] holding the other cheek, of going the extra mile, of giving your tunic,” Wolfe said, commenting on Chapter 5 of St. Matthew’s Gospel.

“All of those actions, in a sense, can only be performed out of a profound conviction that there is enough [and] that we can give all those things away and yet God’s love and plenitude will suffice.” 

Having received the command by God to be a “light for the nations,” both Billet and Wolfe said Jews and Christians hold a responsibility to be witnesses of their religious beliefs, particularly in a world in which scarcity, competition, and conflict are dominant forces.

As part of the Vatican’s three-year collaborative project with the Camille and Sandy Kress Project, the Angelicum will host two additional conferences in 2026 and 2027 to foster Jewish-Catholic dialogue on theology, anthropology, and ethics.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of the Archdiocese of Westminster. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 14:02 pm (CNA).

The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is urging U.K. Catholics to contact their members of Parliament (MPs) and express their opposition to an assisted suicide bill making its way through the legislative process. 

“Every MP, and government, has a solemn duty to prevent such legislation reaching the statute book,” Cardinal Vincent Nichols wrote in an April 1 pastoral letter. “So I appeal to you: Even if you have written before, please make contact now with your MP and ask them to vote against this bill not only on grounds of principle but because of the failure of Parliament to approach this issue in an adequate and responsible manner.”

Members of Parliament voted in favor of advancing the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Nov. 29, 2024, in a 330-275 vote after the bill’s five-hour second reading debate in the House of Commons. The last time members voted on the issue, in 2015, the bill was voted down at the second reading and progressed no further. 

The bill is set to have its third reading on April 25. 

“This will be a crucial moment and I, together with all the bishops of England and Wales, am writing to ask your support in urging your MP to vote against the bill at that time,” Nichols said.

The bishop stressed that MPs have not taken enough time to deliberate over the bill before voting and that the committee charged with its review is overwhelmingly composed of its supporters. The bill’s flawed process, he said, leaves numerous questions unanswered, including whether proper safeguards would be able to ward off human rights violations as well as protect conscientious objectors and the vulnerable from coercion. 

“In short, this is no way to legislate on such an important and morally complex issue,” he stated, adding that he believed it to be a “sad reflection on Parliament’s priorities that the House of Commons spent far more time debating the ban on fox hunting than it is spending debating bringing in assisted suicide.” 

Nichols concluded his letter asserting that instead of pushing for the legalization of assisted suicide, “what is needed is first-class, compassionate palliative care at the end of our lives,” a resource that is currently in “short supply and underfunded.”

“No one should be dispatched as a burden to others,” he wrote. “Instead, a good society would prioritize care for the elderly, the vulnerable, and the weak. The lives of our families are richer for cherishing their presence.”

Recent reports have said the controversial assisted suicide bill’s passage could be delayed another four years amid a growing climate of concern about the viability of the practice.

null / Credi: cinemavision/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Apr 2, 2025 / 13:28 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday said Jesus continues to go out in search of those who are lost or without hope in a catechesis titled “Jesus Christ Our Hope.” 

In his written catechesis, released by the Vatican on April 2, the Holy Father described Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus — a man “who seems irredeemably lost” — as having a “special place” in his own spiritual journey.  

“Perhaps we too feel this way at times: without hope,” he wrote, reflecting on the scene in St. Luke’s Gospel. “Instead, Zacchaeus will discover that the Lord was already looking for him.”

Like Zacchaeus, the pope said Jesus continues to go out in search of those who seek God even when faced with personal limitations, struggles, or uncertain circumstances.

“When he comes to know that Jesus is passing through the city, Zacchaeus feels the desire to see him,” he said. “But when you have a strong desire, you do not lose heart. You find a solution.” 

While commending Zacchaeus’ courage and simplicity for not being intimidated by those who excluded him because he was the chief publican “who collects taxes from his fellow citizens for the Roman invaders,” the Holy Father noted that it is Jesus who takes the first step to start a conversation with the man “despised by everyone.”

“Jesus asks Zacchaeus to come down immediately, almost surprised to see him in the tree, and says to him, ‘Today I must stay at your house!’ (Lk 19:5),” he wrote. “God does not pass by without looking for those who are lost.”

Reflecting on Zacchaeus’ reaction to Jesus’ openness toward him, the pope said: “It is the joy of one who feels that he has been seen, acknowledged, and above all forgiven.”

After welcoming Jesus into his home, the Holy Father remarked that it is the merciful gaze of God that inspired Zacchaeus to transform his life and “imitate the One by whom he felt loved.”  

“He gets up to make a commitment: to return four times what he has stolen,” he said. “He does so because he understands that this is his way of loving.” 

Concluding his catechesis with an invitation to take “practical steps” forward so as to welcome Jesus and his forgiveness into our own lives, the Holy Father said: “Let us allow ourselves to be found by the mercy of God, who always comes in search of us, in whatever situation we may be lost.”

Reconstruction of the face of St. Teresa of Ávila as she would have appeared at approximately age 50. / Credit: Courtesy of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Iberian Province

Madrid, Spain, Apr 2, 2025 / 12:23 pm (CNA).

A scientific reconstruction of what would have been the face of St. Teresa of Ávila when she was 50 years old was presented recently in Alba de Tormes, the town in Salamanca province in Spain where the Carmelite nun died and where she is buried. 

The reconstruction was based on an anthropomorphic and forensic study, historical evidence, and contemporary descriptions. The work was directed by Professor Ruggero D’Anastasio of D’Annunzio University in Chieti-Pescara, Italy, and carried out by Professor Jennifer Mann, a specialist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine at Monash University in Australia.

The presentation of the scientifically reconstructed head is the result of the canonical recognition of the tomb of the reformer of the Carmelite order, authorized last August by the Vatican.

Mann explained in a statement released by the Iberian Province of the Discalced Carmelites that, in addition to scientific data, her work was based on other important sources such as “a portrait by Friar Juan de la Miseria and a detailed description of St. Teresa written by Mother Mary of St. Joseph, who lived with the saint.”

To obtain the final result, the skull was first reconstructed with clay, “correctly positioning the jaw,” reconstructing missing teeth, and using “a combination of forensic facial approximation methodologies used in the United States and the United Kingdom.”

The main muscles were molded with soft, oil-based clay, and the soft tissues (eyes, nose, lips) were estimated using formulas based on head measurements and studying the X-rays.

Other formulas allowed for the calculation of the length, width, and angle of the nose as well as a proportional orientation for the placement of the eyes in the sockets of the skull.

“With the consent of the father postulator general of the Discalced Carmelites, I sculpted St. Teresa of Jesus at around the age of 50, reflecting her plump appearance, as described by Mother Mary of St. Joseph,” the specialist explained.

Furthermore, “the veil, headdress, and habit of St. Teresa of Jesus were inspired by specific paintings, following the advice of Father Miguel Ángel González.”

“This sculpture may be the most accurate representation of what St. Teresa of Jesus really looked like during her lifetime,” Mann said.

At the time of the first reformed convent 

St. Teresa turned 50 on March 28, 1565, and the reconstruction work represents her at that age. It was around that time that St. Joseph convent in Ávila was founded, the first of those reformed by the Spanish mystic. She lived there between August 1562 and 1567.

The saint noted in the “Book of My Life,” known as the “Autograph of El Escorial,” that she lived there “the happiest and most restful years of my life, whose peace and quiet my soul often misses sorely.”

In a text by González, Carmelite prior of Alba de Tormes, it is noted that during these times, St. Teresa lived “under high spiritual tension. These were years of ecstatic tension in her mystical life. She was crossing her sixth mansion, with great impetus and a great surge of love, with forebodings of imminent arrival at the port of the other life.”

“Mansions” refers to the stages of spiritual growth detailed in her book “The Interior Castle.” 

During those years, she wrote her well-known “The Way of Perfection” and the constitutions for her new way of understanding of cloistered life, a reform that she quickly extended. On Aug. 13, 1567, she left the monastery of Ávila for Medina del Campo, where she began the second of her 17 foundations throughout Spain, geographically distributed from north to south, from Burgos to Seville.

Mummified remains in an ‘extraordinary state of preservation’

The medical and scientific team that made possible the reconstruction of the saint’s face also submitted a 53-page document to the Order of Discalced Carmelites offering a comprehensive summary of the research conducted by anthropologist Luigi Capasso.

The summary of the report details that all of the saint’s remains examined (distributed between Spain and Italy) have been naturally mummified and are in an “extraordinary state of preservation.”

The report notes that on her face, “the scalp is preserved, with many traces of brown hair, the left auricle, the right eye, which still retains its eyelids, the dark iris, the three-dimensionality of the eyeball, all the soft tissues of the nasal pyramid, including the nostrils and the apex of the nasal cartilages.”

The “relaxed facial muscles still convey the sense of serenity with which the saint shows she faced the moment of her death.”

Anthropometric calculations determine that the probable height of St. Teresa was 156.8 centimeters (a little over 5 feet), and an examination of her bones suggests that she suffered from osteoporosis. 

She also had an anterior curvature of the neck and trunk, which gave her “a forward-leaning appearance, with her head tilted downward, which also made her take a forced and uncomfortable supine position, with her head unable to rest on the pillow when lying down.”

The saint also suffered from bilateral knee osteoarthritis, “very severe on the left and milder on the right,” and a bone condition below both heels associated with pain, according to the study.

Regarding her mouth, of which only three teeth remain, it is deduced that she suffered, among other ailments, from “severe dental caries [advanced tooth decay], severe tooth wear, and obvious tartar deposits.”

On her right arm, an injury can be seen that could be a result of her writing habits.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The Basilica of the Holy Trinity at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal. / Credit: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rome Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 10:52 am (CNA).

While a Catholic shrine in Lourdes, France, announced on Monday it is covering mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik on the doors to one of its basilicas, another of the world’s most popular sites of Marian devotion said it is not considering removing its own Rupnik artwork.

A spokesperson for the Fátima shrine in Portugal told the Portuguese news outlet 7Margens via email this week that the international shrine is not taking down the mosaic installation but has stopped using its image in any distributed materials.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, which receives over 6 million visitors a year, is located on the site of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions to three shepherd children in 1917.

The back wall of the shrine’s largest and most modern worship space, the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, is covered in an enormous, floor-to-ceiling work by Rupnik and several of his artist collaborators.

The approximately 33-by-164-foot gold mosaic was installed in 2007 and features the paschal lamb at the center flanked by saints and angels.

“We are not considering removing it. However, since we became aware of the accusations against Father [Marko Ivan] Rupnik, we have suspended the use of the image, the entire work, and its details in our dissemination of materials,” the shrine’s communications department told 7Margens.

Echoing a similar statement made to OSV News in July 2024, the shrine said it “strongly repudiates the acts committed by Father [Marko Ivan] Rupnik,” and it “has already expressed its solidarity with the victims.”

Rupnik, a native of Slovenia, was expelled from the Jesuits in June 2023 for disobedience following the public revelation that he was accused of the sexual and psychological abuse of dozens of women under his spiritual care in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The priest is currently under canonical investigation by the Vatican.

The abuse accusations sparked an enormous debate about whether to remove the hundreds of religious artworks created by Rupnik and his collaborators through his Rome-based art and theology center, the Centro Aletti.

At least 230 religious sites around the world feature Rupnik’s distinctive mosaics, from some of the biggest international shrines to smaller chapels and churches, including the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican.

Victims of sexual abuse and organizations that support them have called for the works to be removed or covered, especially since some of the accusations against Rupnik allege he committed abuse in the context of the creation of his art.

In July 2024, the bishop who oversees the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France said he had received opposition to the idea of removing the Rupnik mosaics on the facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary but that, as a first step, they would no longer be lit up at night.

On March 31, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes announced a further step — the covering of the main entrances to the basilica, which also feature mosaics by Rupnik.

In the United States, the Knights of Columbus announced July 10, 2024, that it would cover the Rupnik mosaics located in the two chapels of the National Shrine of St. John Paul II in Washington, D.C., and in the chapel in the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.